Delay in calculation of rank

[lawtransfer22]

I have all but 1 grade and am ready to start submitting applications but I am a little concerned about what to do about my class rank. My problem is not where I will end up, I should be in the top 2-6 people (or top 1-3%), but last semester it took the registrar until mid-feb (almost 5 weeks after classes started and ~8 since the end of fall finals). I have no reason to expect them to come out any faster this time around, which would mean probably late july at the earliest. How do I handle this? Do i just send out my transcripts when I have my last grade and include an addendum regarding the lack of a current rank or do I hold off until the rank gets posted? I am worried about waiting because although I will make all of the submission deadlines for the apps none will be complete until late july or early aug, likely after most schools have made the majority of their decisions.

[upgrade]

I would try go get the official grading policy from the school, mean and standard deviation requirements for each class.  Try to get a hold of rankings from previous years and of course the rankings for your first semester, showing what other grades people had.  I think rankings are commonly not provided and schools just have to do their best to determine the strength of the student.

I know my school has unofficial ranks, but will not even put "unofficial rank = X" on any form until final rankings are stealthily released. We didn't have final ranks until about 3 months after grades were released.

[big - fat - box]

Ask your school to calculate an estimated rank based on the ranks of last year's 1L class. That should be enough for any school you are applying to. Along with the estimated rank, you can get a letter from the registrar indicating that official ranks don't come out until ____ date. With the estimated rank, there should be no hold up in the processing of your transfer apps unless a particular school is really picky about that sort of thing. Back when I applied to transfer, every school was just fine with using the estimated rank.

The grading policy, mean, std. deviation. etc. is too much info for admissions staff and they simply won't be able to accurately deduce your rank for that. These people aren't statisticians, and they make decisions whether to admit or deny a transfer fairly mechanically based on whatever parameters they decide to set.


Good luck.

[lemado]

I called a couple schools and they said that class rank isnt a required field.  I dont know if it will put you at a disadvantage if you dont have it though.